The Greek Left and the Terror of the State

Neni Panourgiá

On Location

July/August 2009

Goli Otok, Sveti Grgur

The "Wire"

In the morning we decide to rent a boat taxi to take us to Goli Otok from Lopar. It is much smaller, just a large speed-boat, though it costs almost the same as the Glass Boat. At least it has fewer passengers and no music. The captain allows us, again, an hour and a half on the island. This time we arrive straight at the harbor, and we start walking along the eastern road, which winds amid of the pine groves, skirting the shore, to the camp itself and the “Wire.” The landscape is very different from what we saw on the other side. The vegetation is more extensive and varied. Pine trees and acacias, sprouting out of crevices between marble boulders prevail on the first leg of the walk, surrounding the administration buildings. As we walk further, towards the prison camp, which is located in a cove about three kilometers from the harbor, the terrain changes again. On the side of the sea it is completely barren; inland there is a pine forest and a forest of dead tree trunks. When we reach the crest of the hill, we find no trees, only short vegetation—crithmus (the Greek kritama, a succulent that grows along the shore and can be eaten pickled or as a salad), the fragrant pistacia lentiscus (the Greek shino), milk thistle, prickly pears. They grow through the stones.

When we reach the crest of the hill we can see the prison and two yachts anchored in the cove; there seem to be no other visitors. From where we are, we see panoramically the layout of this prison-within-a-prison. There is the reception area Markovski mentions, where the exiles had to walk the gauntlet, between guards who were waiting for them as they disembarked and beat them with bamboo sticks and whips. There is the “Wire,” too, and further up was “102,” the area of solitary confinement. When we start walking down the hill two Italian middle-aged men appear. They ask me how big the entire camp is. We start talking. They have come to visit as a tribute to the Italian partisans who fought alongside Tito and were later interned here.

We walk faster and faster, eager to get to the bottom of the hill. The “Wire” is an interesting structure—long, with barred windows and, like all buildings on Goli Otok, with wooden parquet floors. The sign on the building says very clearly that this is the “Wire,” confinement for the incorrigibles. The term is the same as the “Wire” (Syrma) on Makronisos, but there is no other resemblance. Markovski mentions the Wire as surrounding Goli Otok. “In the ‘Wire’ there are no lock-up rooms, no solitary confinements, no separate dungeons. Nevertheless, Goli Otok does not remember [sic] that any political convicts have ever escaped” . Therefore, clearly, the building dates from a much later time. But what does the “Wire” mean? And is it coincidental that the same term was used in Makrónisos? Any attempts to find out have been futile.

We start back uphill towards to the harbor. The trees surrounding the prison provide some relief from the sun. There are a couple of fig trees, salt cedars, Judas trees, angelicas, acacias again, a big walnut tree, and, further up, pines. The heat is maddening; the hill difficult; Away from the shade it is impossible to stand for very long. We make it to the administration building. A new boat has come with tourists who are making their way to the pine grove pushing prams, a little girl on her bicycle, older people who could not possibly walk very far in the sun. We look out over the harbor. The new boat is called Eros. It has brought people on an excursion.

Sign on the external wall of the administration building showing the grand staircase and an explanatory note about its construction through the labor of the prisoners, from cutting the stone to laying the floors.

Sign on the external wall of the administration building showing the grand staircase and an explanatory note about its construction through the labor of the prisoners, from cutting the stone to laying the floors.